A suspect sought by Belgium in the investigation into a jihadist attack in which two Swedes were killed in October 2023 in Brussels was arrested at Malaga airport in southern Spain, police said on Saturday.
The man is suspected of having provided the author of the attack on the weapon with which he had opened fire and killed two Swedish supporters in Brussels, before a Belgium-Suède football match, explained the police in a press release.
The suspect was arrested on Friday as he was about to leave Spain.
“The fugitive faces a lifetime prison sentence because the Belgian authorities were looking for him for the crimes of terrorist attack, murder and serious bodily injuries,” the Spanish police said.
The attacker, dressed in a very visible orange vest, had shot Swedish supporters in the center of Brussels, killing two of them and injuring a third, before fleeing on a scooter.
The police had embarked on a long manhunt. He had been killed while the police were trying to stop him in a cafe.
Belgian Prime Minister at the time, Alexander de Croo, said the shooter was of Tunisian origin and lived in the country.
The latter had reported his attack on social networks, explaining that he had been inspired by the Islamic State group and voluntarily targeted men of Swedish nationality.
The attack had taken place shortly after Sweden noted in August 2023 its alert level against the attacks.
On several occasions, copies of the Koran had been trampled and burned in this country, triggering a wave of indignation in the Muslim world and an increase in jihadist threats against interests abroad in the Scandinavian country.
The attack had caused a lot of emotion in Sweden and Belgium, where the football match was arrested at halftime.
Some 35,000 spectators had been evacuated from the King Baudoin stadium while the Swedish players had been escorted by the police to the airport, before returning to their country.